To Be Continued...

Last day today, but my flight isn't until 23:45, which is about 12 hours away. My cousin, Tim, is going to give me a lift to the airport, but not before we watch the mighty Sharks take on some rubbish team from Canberra.

GO SHARKS!

 But that is in the future, the present is currently me with a hangover after the past saw three Scottish folks move into my room saying 'We're going to get a beer, would you like to join us?' To which I replied 'Yes' and the rest is a mix of watching the All Blacks beat Argentina in the rugby, beer, French people on tables, singing, more beer, Scottish people on tables, joking and now my camera is slightly damaged but has got a mix of funny and embarrassing photographs that I won't post here because that would be a silly idea.

I think this picture sums up the evening quite well on its own.

All fun and games aside I am leaving today, as I mentioned in the first sentence, and I'm all packed and ready to fly home (via Singapore) as Singapore airlines carries me over borders and oceans in the cheapest seat available.

I come for the service but I stay for the 1950's approach to hiring female staff.

And as those lovely, lovely ladies walk up and down the aisles in their fitted dresses I will be thinking of the past year, the sheer number of people I have met and who have in some way influenced my life, all the things I have learned and all the things I didn't learn

Like how I learned to drink excessive amounts on a budget and how I didn't learn it would hurt in the morning.

I also learned that travelling is a lot of fun, whether you go to broaden your horizons or just to have fun in a far off place, you should definitely travel. It doesn't have to be 10,000 miles away, you can drive for a couple of hours and get lost somewhere pretty but now is the time to travel before it all becomes too expensive and before you're too old. I know I'm not going to stop travelling, even if it is just visiting a city I have never been to or going to Scotland to try some traditional Scottish fare in Scotland

"And a dram of your finest Irn-Bru"

Now it is traditional to end these sorts of things with a song, a song that doesn't muck about, a song that can capture an emotion or tell a story. But which song would cater to the idea of flying home on an plane? John Denver's 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' is about leaving, not returning, of course this would all be a lot easier if one of Britain's finest bands made a song that fits, with lyrics that were specifically about flying home from far away and seeing runway lights as the vapour trails align, adding some guitar solos with the sweet tones of Bruce Dickinson's voice...
Oh, they did.

Time to put the 'Great' back into Britain! Fire up the engines, I'M COMING HOME!

Final Daze

My time in this part of the world is almost at an end, although I will repeat my promise to return, even if keeping a promise to yourself isn't really a promise becausenobody would really care if you broke it.

Today was my last day at Brunch 'n' Lunch, but my mind is so far away at the moment, trying to find a way out of my money woes, that I barely remembered it was my last day until a customer reminded me. They asked why I was heading back to Essex and I couldn't think of a less embarrassing answer like 'funeral' or 'I've been in New Zealand a year and my visa has run out' so I told the truth, which is is an uncomfortable truth. Losing control of your money, when your debts control you instead of the other way around, is the greatest embarrassment I have had, aside from when I stood silent for a full minute after forgetting my lines during a drama practical monologue assessment thing at secondary school. But that ended up turning out quite well as my teacher said it built tension, like the 'character was struggling to hold something back'. Maybe my financial situation will turn out to be a good thing in the end? It probably won't, but who knows?

So I went about, selling sandwiches to the usual suspects and when walking between offices my subconcious took over and horrible thoughts came through to my frontal lobe, where they stood and glared until I paid them some attention. Like all people I often dwell on the bad side, knowing there is a bright side but not willing to look at it until I have studied the bad parts to the point that even the bright side seems to dim. I managed to depress myself quite a bit by focussing on all the things I couldn't afford to do. I didn't see Ayer's Rock, didn't see the Barrier Reef, didn't swim with dolphins, didn't see a crocodile or a snake, didn't see a koala in the wild, didn't kick a cane toad, didn't drive the Great Ocean Road... the list went on for sometime.

It's a shame, but the human mind is wired to focus on 'mistakes' as that's how we learn not to make them again, although I'm sure most of us can think of examples where that isn't the case. Like how I always have a hangover after a night out even though I know how and why I get them.

It's all a bit deflating, but looking back at the photos I have taken is a great reminder of all the thing I did do. I did see some bloody big spiders, I did feed kangaroos, I did go to Tasmania, I did drink too much goon, I did see NYE at Sydney Harbour, I did work on farms, I saw Dylan Moran, I did go to Melbourne, I did grow up a bit, I did a Japanese girl, I did jobs I never thought I would, I did a lot of other stuff too and I did document it all.

I also met Frankie.

These blogs were a great idea, even if this post is a bit of a lame one. I have looked back at a few and although some of the photos I stole from Google Images have gone missing the words remain and I refuse to change them as they not only document what I did they manage to document who I was when I wrote them and the subtle changes in myself as I have seen and done more things.

The last day at work ended like any other day at work, to be honest I kind of wish I'd just left New Zealand last week rather than keep it in this comatose state for another week. Sunday I'll be flying out and for 26 hours I'll be travelling back to England. I couldn't sleep when I was flying to Sydney just over a year ago and I doubt I'll sleep this time as I try to think of funny things to say when I inevitably get questioned as to why I'm so bad with money, why I'm back so soon and why I haven't got a tan.

Because skin cancer.

I know this is not how I wanted my travels to end and the fact they are fizzling out in such a poor way is the worst part about it. The 'what if' question continues to hang over me and it will be a long time before I shake it off, maybe I won't fully get rid of it but I now know I don't want to know when I'm going to die, seriously, if I'm feeling this much regret because I'm leaving Australasia for a while imagine how bad I'm going to be when I'm shuffling off of this mortal coil forever?

Well, that's a great way yo end a blog post, death. I normally try to end with a joke, so...

Here's the first picture I posted on my Australia Blog

Wow, that was a while ago.